Day 3: Aftermath

Back at work this morning. Was able to go back to the hotel last night. And yes, I was staying at the Ramada everyone has been seeing on the news. Got some good pictures of the massive sign that fell onto the parking lot. Luckily, anyone parked near that thing was smart enough to move before the storm. Power is out at the hotel and it is teeming with newscasters and sat. vans. Water still works, but no phone. I was just happy to sleep on a matress.

Driving back to the hotel last night was an adventure unto itself. Many roads were still impassable, and power was out over most of the city. With the number of cops on the road, you would have thought it was the apocalypse. We had to dodge several downed power lines and other debris.

Driving into work this morning, I was able to get a better glimpse at the damage done. While not extreme, some people will have their work cut out for them. I didn't really see any truly destroyed homes, which is good. From the photos I've seen of Navarre Beach, on the other hand, the situation appears more dire over there.

Everyone kind of has the 'glad to be alive' aura about them this morning. But the joint concensus is that Dennis had nothing on Ivan. All the people that survived Ivan seemed to have been hardened by the experience. So when Dennis came and didn't pack the punch, there was almost a sense of disappointment. I know that sounds odd, but remember, I'm around journalists here...the more jacked up everything is, the more stories they will have. I know they don't wish the damage was greater per se, I just think they were expecting alot more.

Anyway, going to get back to the grind now. We have some more aerial shots coming in today to post. Those should be interesting juxtaposed against the before shots.

Looks like I may get to come home tomorrow or Wednesday at the latest. I'm elated.

...and then there was light

It is now 3:54pm and the eye wall has passed. Only a few showers and some remnant gusts of wind remain. The area around the paper appears to have suffered minimal damage. Just a few tree branches down and a little debris here and there. That is because we were located on the western side of the eye wall. The eastern side, however, got rocked pretty hard. Reports coming in say that the damage isn't comparable to Ivan, but more to Hurricane Opal. Damage of any kind is bad, but I guess it could have been alot worse. Seeing it from my vantage point, it is hard to imagine anything could withstand the awesome power of a hurricane. Nevertheless, my job will soon change to posting aftermath photos on the web. Flooding is a problem in some places, but on our end it is minimal. Amazing, considering the gallons the sky dumped on us.

Anyway, it feels good to be alive, and to have a home to come back to.

Until next time...

The bane of Shai Hulud...

It is 3:09pm and the eye is upon us. I have seen nothing like this in my life. The winds are gusting up to 120mph and the rain is beyond torrential. It is like another planet outside. We are also under a tornado warning. Inside the building there are multiple leaks, but as soon as one starts, there is a crew of about 10 guys on it immediately.

The worst will be past us very shortly, now. I can hear the wind ripping through the streets outside. The damage along the coast is expected to be near catastrophic. I imagine that when the roads are clear enough for me to get back to the hotel, it will be a somber moment.

Nevertheless, the fort still holds, and the weather is starting to let up ever so slightly. There is still much work to be done.

Update: Dennis says 'yo mama'

Dennis is upon us now. It is almost 1:00pm. The wind is gusting upwards of 60-80mph right now and you can tell. It is very odd to go outside and see absolutely no wildlife anywhere. The rain is coming down in sheets and whipping around in every direction it can. I went outside briefly by the back dock here to have a peek, and it is awe inspiring to witness such pure kinetic energy. It's like when Earth has to blow her nose.

Anyway, I can see the Rove's weather control device is functioning at full capacity. I just figured this was too small a liberal newspaper for the administration to want to destroy it :)

We are all very safe in the building here. I can only hear the faintest echoes of a storm outside. The power has flickered a couple of times, but the generators kick it back on almost instantaneously.

We saw some of the staff photos from Navarre beach, which is currently getting bitch slapped by Dennis. The surge there is very large. They have already had incredible flooding, and debris is everywhere in the streets.

From what I could see, the streets here aren't that bad yet. But tonight they could be quite treacherous.

We are about three hours away from the eye wall landfall. I will post back nearer to that time.

Coming soon...

...to a theatre near you:



In case you didn't see it in the comments below.

It should be directed by the Coen bros.

do do do do do...manamana...do do do do...

*Warning: Random musings ahead*

Ok. Just saw some weird natural phenomena. The rain has no sense of direction as to where to fall. The wind seems to not be blowing in any discernable direction. It's just wind and rain everywhere. No rhyme or reason. I will say, very cautiously, that is really cool outside right now (not temperature wise). At the moment, people are working right now to finish boarding up the newspaper at the back dock.

Word for the week: sandbag

I also just found out that Willie Nelson is making a reggae album. In a way, it makes so much sense. Maybe he'll team up with Timberland next and release his first hip-hop album. Nevertheless, it's a cooler step to take than most artists that have been around as long as him tend to take.

Day 2- Dennis all up in my grill...

It is 8:00 right now. The wind is gusting up to 30mph right now, and my self-preservation synapses are going wild. The air smells of salt and a combination of all the places Dennis has been to so far. As if it carries a mark of its path with it. The rain is not very heavy yet (by Nashville standards), but it shows no sign of letting up. The eye is on its way and is due to arrive on land around 1ish.

It is now a little after 10:00 and it is picking up pretty good outside. The eye wall is at 140mph and where I'm at is expected to see gusts of up to 150mph. That should be crazy. I'm comforted by the fact that absolutely noone in this building seems the least bit scared or concerned. They've all been through this before with Ivan. I got about six more hours or so before the eye wall passes over us. So around 4pm should be the hairy goodness. It is 80 miles south of us moving NNW at 18mph.

We just got some photos in of this 76yr old man who took his walker down to the beach in his rainsuit to watch this thing come in. I got a feeling that either his is very senile, very stupid, or more at one with the ocean than I can possibly comprehend. I'm pretending it's the later because it just seems cooler.

I'm about to go peek outside and see how it's doing now. I'll report back.

I will continue posting as I can.

Thanks everyone for thinking of me. I can assure you the feeling is mutual.

Day 1- Fear and Loathing in Pensacola

My first day on the job as relief aid to the PNJ was fairly straight-forward and easy. My job was to take screen captures of PNJ's home page, and to also set up some photo galleries for their website. Mostly just basic photoshop work.

Everyone here is very nice and appreciative, but there is also an air of "not this again." You look around and people are just camping here like it's a shelter unto itself- and I will say the building here seems sturdy enough to support that idea.

Across the street there is a five or six story brick building whose southern face has absolutely no windows. It looks very odd, but also serves as a reminder of where I am and what I'm dealing with.

*ironic tidbits*
- the tv in my hotelroom has been playing Waterworld everynight. That's gotta sting.
- driving into work today, we saw a lawn that had the sprinklers going.
MUST...SAVE...LAWN...
reminds of something Hank Hill would do.

First impressions....

Well, what a day it has been so far.

I haven't had a thing to eat yet. I was yanked out of bed at 7:00am this morning and drug to work immediately. Didn't expect that as noone had told me nor given me an iternerary of any sort. Not that I was complaining....I was too tired to complain after taking my first flight in 15 years yesterday. The work is easy enough. Just a basic rinse, repeat operation.

*brief distraction*
The flight went well. I know now that I definitely prefer taking off over landing...thought I'm not that fond of either. I find that many people share this opinion. Got my peanuts and watered down Coke product and felt just like the Homeland Security Dept. was giving me a hug. You know, that kind of hug you would give to a shark.
*end distraction*

One of my bosses looks like Joe Piscopo or that dude from Karate Kid 2. That kind of archetype. He looks like he was manufactured in a Floridian factory.

It is 4:00pm and we are about to head to the hotel to get some grubbins. Don't know if I'll have to come back this evening or if I will get to have one last night of peace and quite before Dennis drops his mighty load on Florida's belly.

I hope for peace and quite.

Into the maelstrom....

I have a confession to make: I work for the media. I'm not a reporter, nor a photographer. I am an IT support person. My official title is Newsroom Support Specialist...which is corporate for tech-slug. I work at The Tennessean in Nashville, TN which is a Gannett newspaper. By any means, it is not a glamorous job. The hours are mostly ok- normally it turns out to be a 9-5er. And the pay is pretty decent.

As anyone in my line of work can tell you, you learn to become a jack-of-all-trades. I don't just support the newsroom. I also do work for our online production team, as well the occasional "my home computer has broke, can you fix it" request. I take helpdesk tickets, do database work, program web searches for various projects, among a myriad of other tedious chores. Though I voice my disdain for my job often, the truth is- I love it.

So, when my supervisor came and saw me just last Thursday and asked me "How good are you with Photoshop?", I thought nothing of it. I said, "I guess I'm pretty decent with it." The conversation then took a small turn toward the unexpected. "The Pensacola News Journal has contacted us, and they need assisstance putting photo galleries up during Hurricane Dennis. Do you think you would be up to it?.", he asked. I asked if I could sleep on it and was informed that a decision had to be made within a couple of hours so that all the booking and registration processes could begin.

My first instinct: check weather.com.

Dennis looked pissed. He had just landed on Jamaica, and was on a beeline to Cuba. The projected path had Pensacola directly in the middle. A big bullseye sitting on the sunshine state.

My sense of self-preservation immediately kicked in. Two hours to decide. Let me compare risks and benefits.

Risk: I just got engaged. Going into the middle of a hurricane just seemed counterproductive.
Risk: The prospect of being stranded without communication for an indefinite amount of time was very real. I would have a fiance', friends, and family worried sick.
Benefit: I'm in line to apply for an Online Coordinator position at The Tennessean, doing the type
of work I would be doing in Pensacola, only without the 150mph winds and refugees. In
other words, this would be a trial by stone (or rain I guess).
Benefit: I was named as a candidate for this relief work by the Vice President of The Tennessean
The man who signs my paychecks. That is quite an honor. It also puts me in incredible
standing for the new job.
Benefit: That new job would pay, at minimum, $11,000 more a year than I make right now.
Being newly engaged and not far from being a prosective new home buyer, the
extra money would be very welcome.

I called my fiance' and discussed it with her, and was told that though I would be missed, it was up to me and only me. Dammit. Then it occured to me: I have spent the last several years of my life in a humdrum, relatively unexciting existence. I had a car accident 2 years ago that totally changed my life and my outlook on life. This experience with Hurricane Dennis would be a chance for me to go do some much needed soul searching. I'm by myself down here, with only the storm and myself as enemies. I cannot fight myself, and I cannot win against Dennis. But I am determined to learn something from this, and to grow from it.

I hope to come back to Nashville (in one large piece) and see my beautiful fiance', my family, and my friends with new eyes. I hope to gain a deeper understanding of the way the forces of nature permeate into people's lives. I hope to come back to my job with a new skillset that was weathered under the most trying of conditions. That is my real mission.